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Dbq Slave Labor In The Caribbean

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Dbq Slave Labor In The Caribbean
The immediate addiction European citizens developed to the new sweetener drove the sugar trade between Europe and the Caribbean. In order to feed this addiction, slave labor in the Caribbean emerged, taking advantage of the islands which proved to be perfect for the growth of Europe’s newest drug. The population of Europe strongly desired sugar for sweetening imports, especially coffee, tea and chocolate. The citizens craved the sweet taste and demanded to be supplied with more of the drug. The price of slaves, the driving force behind the production of sugar, reflected this love of the sweetener, as the demand for sugar rose so did the price of slaves. But, as the price of slaves rose so did the price of owning and maintaining a sugar plantation …show more content…
While these owners may have been in charge of the plantations, they did next to no work in the actual production of sugar, leaving that work for the slaves. Slaves did all of the manual labor producing sugar, which can be seen in Documents 8 and 10. Slaves spent their lives planting and harvesting sugar cane plants as well as curating them and turning them into cane sugar (Doc 8). They were the driving force behind the sugar trade and as the demand for sugar grew so did the demand for slaves because more slaves means more sugar. In fact, from 1703 to 1789 in Jamaica the slave population grew by fivefold and its sugar production increased twelvefold (Doc 10). This clearly shows that the slaves were what lead to the increase in sugar production and the further development of the sugar trade. Slaves did not just help to produce sugar though, they also aided the English economy. English merchants could trade many of their own goods in exchange for the slaves needed to make sugar, so they could help the growth of the sugar trade as well as the growth of the economy (Doc 11). The English economy also flourished due to mercantilism which emerged in 1660 and aided England by making sure that more money and goods were coming into England than were …show more content…
It was much more influential than the climate or the labor because without the proper climate controlled by Europe, Europeans would still have found a way to obtain the sugar they craved. Rulers have always been able to find someone to do the work they need to have done in the past, so it would not have been hard for them to find people to produce sugar for them. Without either of these factors the sugar trade could still have existed, but without the demand for sugar there would be no way for the sugar trade to survive. All of the documents supported this idea, however, there was one voice in particular that was missing and that is the voice of the the common people who craved sugar. There were accounts of people who wanted sugar, but none directly from their point of view. Including their voice would have allowed for a more complete analysis of the entirety of the sugar trade and a further understanding of the exact reasons why sugar was so
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